Spring Romance, bird style......

It is only January but already you can see bird behaviour that is indicative of breeding season that appears to be well under way in the Valley of the Sun.  With Dana still on the DL, physical effort this past week has been limited to birding.  I have been out almost everyday this week.  Dana came with me two of those days.  Without being overly dramatic, WOW!!! - What a week!!!!

We've been on quite a streak.  This week's rare bird find is the Black-and-White Warbler.  This bird is very rare here in the Valley of The Sun - at any time.  We had heard that it was around the Gilbert Water Ranch and that it had been spotted a few times in the past 3 weeks.  Every time we go there we look for it.  On Tuesday I went the GWR by myself.  After birding for about 2 hours I had stepped into the woods for a "natural break", as cyclists call it, when I spotted the bird.  What good fortune.  But wait, there's more.  There was not one, but two B&W Warblers, one female and one male.  Here is a photo of the female.

Black-and-White Warbler at the Gilbert Water Ranch

Dana, and others I am sure, wonder why I take more pictures of Herons when I already have some beautiful photos of these majestic birds.  The reason is that bird behaviour is complex and you never really get the same photo.  I was at GWR Friday morning with Nancy and Keith.  We spotted these 2 Heron exhibiting interesting behaviour.  I took a couple of shots and moved on.  It was not until I downloaded the photo at home that I realized that I had captured what appears to be Great Blue heron courting behaviour.  The quality of the photo, in my view, is pretty good.

Great Blue Heron Love at the Gilbert Water Ranch

As far as "cute factor", this one doesn't get any better.  Today we were at one of the parks on the Salt River.  We have birded at this location in past years but this was our first visit this year.  What a fantastic outing!  Walking through the Mesquite trees Dana spotted what she assumed were a pair of Hummingbirds tending a nest.  I arrived at the spot a few minutes later and I captured a photo of the female on the nest.  Another Hummingbird was close by, and we think that a third hummer was assisting in the construction of the nest.  It was too much to take in.  I got as many photos as I could get without disturbing the birds.  What I did get I sent to our friends who are bird experts for assistance with the identification.  We got confirmation that the species was Anna's however some of the behaviour we observed is still being interpreted.  There are aspects of the behaviour that are puzzling.

Female Anna's Hummingbird nesting

Here are a couple of bonus photos from the week.  Enjoy the photos!!

Ciao!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Red-tailed Hawk on a Saguaro Cactus - Iconic desert image

Western Bluebird, most likely a female

Severe Weather Warning...... Clouds tomorrow!!!

The desert has been hot, really hot.  We have had no rain since we arrived on December 30th.  Okay, I realize that back home on the "left coast" rain has been scarce as well.  We often will check the Victoria weather in the morning and most days it is colder here in the desert than it is there.  However.... pause for effect.... the daily high in Victoria is often only a few degrees higher than their low.  Our daily high today was 79F, or 25C (close enough..).  Humidity this afternoon was 9%.  The toast I had for breakfast had more than 9% humidity!  Humidity in Victoria this evening:  100%.  The impact of the drought here is that rivers are shrinking at an alarming rate.  The Salt River, one of our favorite birding areas, has been reduced to about 30% of its' normal width.  I cannot get any information, online or otherwise regarding the current threat.  It is almost as if the local population were oblivious to what is happening.  Gives me a "dancing while Rome was burning" sort of feeling.  Or was that the Titanic sinking?  Whatever.....

We have been busy, dancing.  No, no....  We have been busy with lots of stuff.  Dana was put on the DL for today's league Bocce game.  Upper body injury.  Day to day.  Should be a game time decision for our next ride.  (Dana has a chest/head cold and is fine, just cranky that she missed the Bocce Ball game...)  Our neighbour Spence subbed.  We won the game 15-4.  All of us made some good shots and the opposition struggled much like we did last week.  It was good to get into the win column.  I think we were all inspired by the Seattle Seahawks big win on Sunday.  Wow!  We're going to the Super Bowl!!  On Sunday morning we participated in the "Cole Bike Ride", part of the P.F. Chang's Phoenix Rock & Roll Marathon event.  We rode the marathon route ahead of the marathon.  Got the t-shirt so we don't have to do that again.  Best part of the day was spending time with friends and going for breakfast at the Waffle House in south Mesa.  Wow!  That was a lot of food.  Not something to do everyday.  We did eat everything they brought us.....

We rode mountain bikes in the desert last Saturday, 50k rode ride Sunday, part of that the marathon route, and we rode our normal 50k rode route yesterday.  Yesterday afternoon and this morning we got out for a bit of birding.  My 2014 Arizona bird species count is now 89.  I feel good about surpassing last years total of 125 however, that means I need 37 more species.  I might be a bit optimistic but we will have fun trying.

I do have a couple of photos to post.  I feel like I am in a bit of a slump.  Actually, we have been birding in the afternoon or late morning and we need to go earlier as the birds seem to be scarce in the heat of the day.  They are smart birds.  Especially this talking Ring-necked duck.  The Black Vulture didn't have much to say...  Enjoy the photos.    For more photos you can check out my Flickr page at:     http://www.flickr.com/photos/95573509@N08

Ciao!

Talking Ring-necked Duck at the Gilbert Water Ranch

Mature Black Vulture, one of 18 we observed this morning.

Birding and Bocce and other fun stuff....

What does Birding and Bocce have in common?  Well, nothing really.  This is my third blog post of the evening and I'm just about done.  I thought I would combine this weeks birding with this weeks Bocce results.  Hmmmm....  I could also mention this weeks golfing fun.  And then there tennis.  Oh, we also got a couple of bike rides in this week.  Crap!  I really want to mention our birding so I'll summarize the  rest.

• 1st Bocce match.  We lost.  Hope to do better next week.
• Golf.  9 holes and breakfast is the way to go.  2 games a week.  Birdied back to back holes at Superstition Springs on Thursday.  Game is still a work in progress.
• Tennis:  I coached for the first time today.  The head coach asked me to help the group with serving.  I came home happy and the head coach asked me to continue helping out.  All good.
• Road and mountain bike rides.  Sweet!

Okay, and now results of our latest birding.  It has been quite an amazing week for birding.  This past week we spotted 3 birds that are very infrequent visitors to this area at this time of year.  Fortunately for identification purposes I have good photos of all three birds.  It seems that each time we go out we are getting more comfortable with our bird identification abilities.  We still defer to the experts (specifically our friend Bud) when there is doubt, but overall we are able to use our references to narrow down the species.  We are often surprised, no, thrilled when we get a difficult identification correct.  This happened when we made the correct call on the Plumbeous and Cassin's Vireos.

Today was a thrill!  I saw my first Zone-tailed Hawk of the year.  Dana spotted it yesterday and took me to that location today.  Lucky us, it was still in the area.  Bonus, I got a good photo of it.  I posted it on eBird to let others know that it was spotted as it is considered, at least on eBird as a rare visitor for this time of year.

Other sighting this week include, Wilson's Snipe, Harris's Hawk, House Wren and Black Vulture.

Enjoy the photos!  Some bonus photos for you to enjoy.

Cassin's Vireo

Plumbeous Vireo

Immature Zone-tailed Hawk at Gilbert Water Ranch

Immature Zone-tailed Hawk (same one as above)

Black Vulture on top of a lamp post on Southern Ave, Mesa, Az.

2 Avocet at Gilbert

Green Heron, smallest of the Heron Family (18" tall)

This is a reflection of a Great Blue Heron that was standing in one of the ponds at the Gilbert Water Ranch

Wilson's Snipe at Gilbert Water Ranch

Desert Hockey

Last evening I attended the Vancouver Canuck's vs Phoenix Coyotes game at Jobing.com arena in Glendale, Az.  The best part of the evening was being with Mike, Darlene, John, Penny and other Canucks from here at the park.  The evening started off well.  Sunny and warm, which to me is still weird for hockey season.  An early dinner at Margaritaville restaurant where I had a "Cheese-burger in Paradise" and a Land Shark beer.  How did I order my burger you say?  Well, "I'll have mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, a big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer, good God Almightly which way to steer......."  Jimmy Buffett fans will know the song and are probably humming along as they read!

Okay, I am practicing avoidance by not writing about the game.  A hockey post would not be a hockey post without some mention of a hockey game.  Alright, I'm going to write about the game.  But wait, I'm feeling nauseous.  Maybe it was the meatballs I had for dinner?  No, they were perfect.  Maybe I had too much sun today.  No, it's not that hot.  Maybe I didn't drink enough water today.  No, I did okay on hydration.  Wait, wait, don't tell me.  Just the thinking about that poor excuse for an effort put forth by a group of high paid "professional" hockey players makes me want to run screaming into the desert and plant myself on the biggest Saguaro Cactus I can find.  I cannot recall a time when I have seen such a poorly played and coached NHL hockey game.   Save for the goalie, Lack, who played very well, the rest of them should have been left in the desert to live among the scorpions, snakes and vultures.  No, that fate would be too good for them, and would probably just piss off the scorpions, snakes and vultures!  What is to become of the Vancouver Canucks?  Change is needed, and soon or it will be yet another season when they will surely break our hearts.

Scenes from my outing at Jobing.com arena......

Canuck faithful arrive.  There were one or two Phoenix Coyote supporters spotted but most noticeable were the many Canuck fans, this one sporting new "electric" shoes...  Nice!

Jobing.com is a "theme park".  Really, it is first class in every way.  A real treat to attend an event at this location.

Pre-game "shoot-around".  The arena looks empty now, but by game time it was at least 50% full.  The overall crowd was split 50-50 between Coyote and Canuck supporters.

American Revolution Part II, or ..."Suck it up. At least you don't have to shovel it!"

Riddle me this Batman:  When the electricity goes out for 7 days in an RV Park/Resort, affecting over 2,000 residents, and you are not one of the 2,000 affected, what is the number one question that you best not ask of the power challenged residents?

• Hey Dude.  Got a light?

After 7 days the power is mostly restored to almost 50% of the residents of Mesa Regal RV Resort.  To be honest, it is not feeling like much of a resort, at least to the 2,000 people who have been without power for 7 days.

Yes, the weather is delightful.  70F plus for daytime highs.  However, the nights are cold.  By 6:00 p.m. it is time for pants and shirtsleeves.  At night the temps drop to the low 40's.  "Camping out" is not what folks are here for.  If this were Toronto, the Mayor would have called out the Army to aid the citizens and at the same time would have filed for disaster relief.  Okay, maybe not the current Mayor.  He would have shipped in, we'll say "supplies", to help everyone get through this challenging of times.  Party on dude!!

Best line I heard concerning the current power outage?

The manager of the park was told that the residents were revolting.  She responded, "Yes, there are quite dreadful aren't they?"  (Thanks, bro....)

All for now.   Ciao!

Bird photographer in training...

Everyone knows that to be a successful bird photographer you need at a minimum the following:

• Pro quality camera, lens and gear
• Proper clothing
• A keen understanding of bird behavior.

I got the camera.  I got the lens.  I went on the Internet and found a supplier of camouflage lens coats (see photo).  I went to Bass Pro and bought a camo t-shirt and hat that permits me to get closer to the birds that I wish to photograph.  By the way, Bass Pro is a "sportsman's" super store.  Frankly, as a naturalist, environmentalist and conservationist, the place kinda creeps me out.  The store is huge.  It is filled with animal trophies.  I'm sure the trophies (heads) looked much better on the live animals.  It is however one of the few places that I could get some camo clothing.  The camo section in Bass Pro is about the size of our local  grocery store.  I should add that it is a great place for fisherman to buy gear and for sportsman and sportswomen to buy gear for outdoor hobbies other than hunting.  I'll leave it at that.

Back to successful bird photography.  I'm working hard on the third point, that being understanding bird behavior.  The photo below demonstrates clearly where I am in my progress towards being a successful bird photographer.  Clearly I have a ways to go......  One positive, I am convinced that the camo clothing works as you can plainly see the birds did not seem to know I was standing next to them.  Unfortunately, I didn't know they were next to me......


Barry, intent on photographing some of the local water fowl, is sure he heard Mallards very close to his position.  Frustrated, he misses the shot.......

Heron Family

Time to completely bore you with photos of my family.  No, not that family.  I'm talking the Heron Family, as in Birds!

As you might have guessed I have been spending a fair bit of time photographing the wonderful birds that we find in the Valley of the Sun.  Herons are very numerous here.  On any given day at the Gilbert Water Ranch we can see Great Blue, Black-crowned Night and Green Herons.  In addition we can see Great and Snowy Egrets which are part of the greater Heron Family.  I thought that I would post a photo tribute to some of these wonderful birds.   I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we did.

Ciao!

Snowy Egret Reflecting Pond

Snowy Egret with snack.  Yummy.....

Black Crowned Night Heron in flight

Great Blue Heron coming in for a graceful landing

Great Blue Heron showing off to a prospective mate.

I believe this is the prospective mate, or the competition?

NOT a penguin!  Black Crowned Night Heron relaxing by a pond

Great Blue Heron in full flight.  Not hard to understand why this bird was named "Blue" Heron.

Great Blue Heron landing in a shrub that will not support a bird of this size.  Maybe a blind bird?

Bikes, Birds and Coyotes

First of all, Happy Birthday Hannah.  All the best from us to you as you prepare for winter in eastern Canada and the second half of the college year.  Go get 'em.....!!!

I am in the computer lab once again.  4 days to go until we get our DSL service at our park model.  The lab is quite amazing.  There are about 40 desktops available for use by the park residents.  In addition there are two work spaces designated for laptops.  These all have cables so you can connect to the park LAN.  I am at one of those tables tonight.  The only downside seems to be the HVAC.  It is about 80F in the Lab and there does not appear to be any air moving.  Think "sauna".

Yesterday we said good-bye to Kevin and family.  They headed back to Canada, and back to school and work.  It was so great spending some time with them.  Hope to see them again sometime soon.  We had Kevin and Sherri stay in our "guest suite" (the converted storage room).  It has a queen bed and a 1/2 bath.  Jo, it is about the same size as your London hotel room plus it has it's own toilet so you don't have to go down the hall or share it with someone else.  K&S said the room was quite comfortable for a few days.

We are busy each day cycling or birding, or cycling and birding.  I am attaching 2 photos of us on January 1st, our inaugural bike ride in 2014.  I am also posting several new bird photos from yesterday afternoon.  We normally bird at Gilbert Water Ranch in the morning but yesterday the sun was so great that I wanted to photograph some birds in the afternoon light.  We were rewarded with a sighting of a Peregrine Falcon (no photo - it was too fast for me).  So far we are up to 61 species for our Arizona total this year.

Included in the photos is an American Kestrel, Snowy Egret and Northern Mockingbird.  These birds are common at the water ranch.  I am including them as the light was fantastic, and they cooperated for their pictures.  I am also including a bonus photo.  It is not a bird.  The Gilbert Water Ranch seems to be a healthy ecosystem.  We found a very healthy Coyote hunting in one of the dry ponds.  It was quite far away from us but I got a good shot and am including it in this post.   I am getting to really like the bright sun here in AZ.  It enables me to do so much more with my camera.  I can reduce the ISO, increase the shutter speed and aperture.   All opposite to what I was doing back home in the Fall.

We went for dinner last evening with K&D.  We went to our favorite restaurant in Mesa, The Blue Adobe.  We found the food to be just as great as it was last year.  The company was pretty great too.

I hit the links for the first time yesterday.  9 holes, then brunch at the Little Mesa Cafe.  Sunny and warm.  A very nice first time out.  The golf was nothing to write about, however, I did par 2 holes and missed several par attempts.  The saying, "drive for show, putt for dough" is very, very true.  I'll just leave it at that, for now.  I go again on Thursday for a 9 holes and breakfast.  Should be fun.

After being here for a week we finally got the 4Runner washed today.  It was getting a bit embarrassing driving around in a dirty vehicle.  We also went to Albertson's grocery store where you can buy Tillamook ice cream and butter.  As soon as I post this I will head home for some Mudslide before bed.

Well, that is about it for now.  This no, or poor to non-existent Internet service at our park model is way past wearing thin.  4 days to go.

btw: I included a feature on the blog that will enable you to get email notification of a new post.  Give it a try, it is pretty easy to register.

Enjoy the photos.  Ciao!

Happy new Year!!!

Settling in.....

First of all, thanks for all the messages from back home.  

Settling in is just not the way to describe our first 4 days in the desert.  Bluebird skies, warm temps and cold beer, or rum if you prefer.  Were to start......

We arrived in Mesa on December 30th.  Our last night on the road was in Blythe, California.  Our last day on the road was a short one.  The drive from Blythe took us about 3 hours.  We arrived at our winter home at around noon.  When we drove down our street we were greeting warmly by the many friends we have made here in the RV park.  After hugs and handshakes were able to unload the 4Runner and then head for the grocery store for provisions.  That done we spent the rest of the day greeting more friends, eating dinner then falling into bed for a well earned good night sleep.

Our first full day was spent birding in the morning at Gilbert Water Ranch and then running errands.  Birding was quite good.  It was fun to bird with Kevin and Sherri.  We identified 42 species of birds.  I got a few good photographs which I will post and add to my Flickr page.  New Year’s Eve was quiet.  We had dinner with Kevin, Sherri and the kids then we went to the airport at 10:30  to pick up Kelly and Donna who were inbound from Canada.  Home at 11:20, in bed soon thereafter.

January 1st, 2014.  We headed out of the park at 0900 for our inaugural bike ride.  Just a short(ish) 50k ride to get us started in the New Year.  It was warm, 16C or 72F.  Glorious!  Funny thing happened on the ride.  We were riding in the bike lane when a vehicle came up beside us.  The fellow driving the SUV slowed, rolled down his window and called out to us that his buddy in Victoria rides with IRC, my bike club.  Small world as there are fewer that 50 IRC members.  As I was wearing my IRC club kit he wanted to take my photo and send it to his buddy.  I agreed and he whipped out his cell phone took the shot, said thanks and drove off.  Small world.  In the afternoon I had a great time playing tennis with Sherri while Dana visited with friends on our block. 

Today we went birding on the Salt River.  We identified several species including a new one for us, a Lark Sparrow.  I got a good photo of the Lark Sparrow and a female Ladder-backed Woodpecker that I will include in this post.  This afternoon we mostly rested, did some grocery shopping and got caught up on some rest.  Tomorrow we hope to ride in the morning.  Might even catch up with Steve and Jo unless they are on the golf course.....

Enjoy the pics.  Ciao!

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Gray Flycatcher

Lark Sparrow

Great Egret

Loggerhead Shrike

Verdin